The International Ski Federation (FIS) is gradually moving away from anti-Russian measures, resisting external pressure. In the spring, the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Norwegians and forbade our athletes to participate in the World Cup in Oslo. And already in the fall, officials, to the displeasure of the Scandinavians, started talking about the return of Russians to competitions.

The new idea of ​​the FIS President caused even more indignation among the Nordic countries. The Federation wants to take over the rights to broadcast the World Cup, thereby limiting the independence of the host countries of the stages.

Will the organization’s decision put an end to manipulation?

Be like Djokovic and Federer

The popularity of cross-country skiing has fallen significantly in recent years, and one of the main tasks of the international federation today is to return its former ratings to its competitions. FIS President Johan Eliash publicly stated this in the autumn:

“We cannot be in a situation where we lose viewers. We must take action.

The 60-year-old Swede was inspired by the success of the Netflix-Formula 1 collaboration, which produced four seasons of behind-the-scenes documentaries about the “royal races”, and decided to learn from this experience:

“We can invest more money in formats if we have the rights ourselves. All of this means that we can pay our athletes more prize money. Our top athletes make as much in a year as Djokovic or Federer make in a week. We must correct this balance. It’s terrible,” Eliash says.

Photo: © Clive Brunskill / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Every skier who hears this from the head of the FIS should definitely be inspired and support him. But not the national federations, for which politics is more important than sports today.

“We do not agree with FIS”

The thing is that at the moment the rights to broadcast the World Cup belong to the national federations, and they already choose how to dispose of them. Management of most of the rights is concentrated in the hands of the company Infront, which is led by Philip Blatter, the nephew of the well-known former FIFA President Joseph Blatter.

Philip Blatter / Photo: © Alexander Hassenstein – FIFA / Contributor / FIFA / Gettyimages.com

Philip has agreements for the implementation of media rights with many national federations until the 2025/26 season, and with some right up to 2031. And, as follows from Eliash’s position, these agreements are now under threat.

The Swedish functionary wants the FIS to own the rights and manage them itself, as this opens up huge opportunities. The FIS President sees no legal problems in order to start building his own media empire:

– As for the World Cup, the FIS has no agreement with Infront. The agreement is between the national ski associations and Infront. So FIS can do exactly what we want,” says Eliash.

Even if the Swede is legally right, there are questions about business ethics. At least for Blatter and his Swiss agency, who are disappointed with the idea to say the least:

— We do not agree with FIS. They continue to ignore the rights of national federations and existing contracts. This creates huge uncertainty and disruption in the market. If they implement the model of centralization, then in our eyes it will be the annexation of the rights of national ski federations. It will also lead to an abundance of lawsuits for many years to come, which in turn will lead to high costs and uncertainty, the company laments.

Authority at stake

Frankly speaking, legal disputes are not of great interest to us. But their consequences can seriously change the disposition in the world of skiing. At the moment, each World Cup host country has a strong asset in its hands – the screening rights. And, depending on the circumstances, uses it as a tool.

For example, let’s remember Norway’s ultimatums that they will not let the Russians to start their stages in Oslo and Drammen. Eliash had to listen to this. If the FIS manages the broadcast, then other countries will simply not be able to impose any special conditions on it.

Photo: © Federico Modica / NordicFocus / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Perhaps, the international organization was tired of looking for a compromise every time and abandoning its interests, so Johan Eliash decided to expand the sphere of influence by order. In the end, you can’t forever indulge the whims of the Norwegians.

Apparently, national federations will not be able to influence Johan’s plans. So far, we see that most of the resonant ideas that are born in the off-season in the offices of the organization go to work. So the Scandinavians are worried for a reason: soon the local bosses will not have the tools to manipulate.